In 2019, I read — and reread — one particular book. The book is entitled You Are My Friends by Frank Labauch. It’s all about cultivating an intimate friendship with the Lord Jesus Christ. The book was originally published in 1942 in hardback then in 1969 in softcover, and it’s been out of print for many years. I found my copy on Amazon. The original 1942 hardcover edition. And I was blessed to have only paid $5.29 for it. However,... Read more

Many of you are aware that I’m revising and expanding my book, The Untold Story of the New Testament Church. The revision will be extensive, so if you don’t have the original edition (published in 2005), hold off until the new version releases. In my research for the book, I came across From Pentecost to Patmos, 2nd Edition: An Introduction to Acts through Revelation by Craig L. Blomberg and Darlene M. Seal. The publisher kindly sent me a review copy... Read more

After I gave my life to Jesus Christ at the age of 16, I spent time with some of the folks in their 30s in my church. I recall one of them had a Bible that fascinated me. It was the Thompson Chain Reference Bible. So a several years later, I asked for my own copy as a birthday present. It was in April 1983 that I received my first Thompson Chain. It was a black genuine leather KJV edition.... Read more

Incredible Opportunity: By a request I’ve received from a Christian parent, I’m looking for a specific person to write an article for this blog and my other blog (which has garnered over 2 million readers over the years – frankviola.org.) There can be several people who will write the article, actually, and it will be a joint post. Criteria (all non-negotiable) a SERIOUS follower of Jesus Christ ability to write clearly female age – 20s used to hit the clubs... Read more

In a past blog post, I wrote about the book The New Testament in its World by N.T. Wright and Michael Bird. The publisher kindly let me have access to the video lecture series on vimeo that goes along with the book, which you can check out here. Let me explain what the video lecture series is and isn’t. What is it The quality of the videos is top notch. They were obviously professionally recorded. The content for each video... Read more

Robert Banks is a friend who I met online many years ago, well before I wrote Reimagining Church. A first-rate New Testament scholar, Banks wrote one of the most powerful books making the case that the first-century churches — and first-century church planting — was drastically different than it is today. His seminal book Paul’s Idea of Community confirmed a great deal of what the Holy Spirit was teaching me and the brothers and sisters in whom I gathering with... Read more

Mark L. Strauss has a book called Four Portraits, One Jesus: A Survey of Jesus and the Gospels (2nd edition) that I think is fantastic. I read through the book in a few days and found it packed with helpful information on the Gospels. The formatting is appealing and easy to read, and the content is great. This isn’t a book that gets too deep in the weeds. Rather, it’s a book that will help all readers of the Bible,... Read more

If you haven’t picked up a copy of my new book Hang On, Let Go, you can check out free samples and author interviews on it here. Recently, Thomas Nelson sent me a copy of their remarkable NET Bible (New English Bible). The specific one I received was the NET Bible, Full-notes Edition, Genuine Leather, Brown, Comfort Print. All I can say is that this Bible floored me. I was so impressed by it that I use it almost daily.... Read more

In spring of 2020, we posted two articles by guest author Jim Juers entitled “Genesis 3 Christianity – And My Journey Beyond It!” and “The Historical Origins of Contemporary “Genesis 3 Christianity.” Jim has continued to analyze and write on the theme since then. Those who were intrigued and challenged by the first articles will want to read his updated chapters and two concluding chapters, “The Results of “Genesis 3 Christianity” and “Towards an Alternative – A More Complete Christian... Read more

Frank just wrote a new article on how to pray for “hopeless” people on his main blog (he defines what he means by “hopeless” in the article). READ IT HERE and make sure you subscribe to it. He writes a fresh UNFILTERED article every Thursday over there. Read more